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Why Sting Never Wanted To Join WWE, Explained

Posted: Jun 25th 2022 By: Sourav Mahanty - TheSportster.com

Sting was the franchise player of WCW, but he was well past his prime when he finally ended up in WWE.

When Sting debuted in WWE at Survivor Series in 2014, it was a historical moment in wrestling. The franchise player of WCW was finally in Vince McMahon's company, 13 years after he had bought out the competition.

Most fans had given up hope of ever seeing Sting in WWE, as he spent almost a decade in TNA after departing WCW. A lot of people considered it a mistake on his part, as he could have been a major player in the biggest wrestling promotion in the world instead of floating around in the alternative. Why did Sting never make the jump to WWE until 2014 though?

Sting Was The Franchise Player Of World Championship Wrestling

Despite the number of huge stars that WCW had throughout their existence, if there is one man who most fans instantly associate with the company, it is Sting.

He arrived in the company in 1987 and was given a push from the very beginning, which was not a surprise considering his size and look, even though he might not have been the most polished worker at that point of time. Sting showed the desire to work hard and get better though, and he would go on to beat Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at The Great American Bash in 1990, in a now legendary match between two wrestlers who would go on to define WCW.

Sting Was The Franchise Player Of World Championship Wrestling

Despite the number of huge stars that WCW had throughout their existence, if there is one man who most fans instantly associate with the company, it is Sting.

He arrived in the company in 1987 and was given a push from the very beginning, which was not a surprise considering his size and look, even though he might not have been the most polished worker at that point of time. Sting showed the desire to work hard and get better though, and he would go on to beat Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at The Great American Bash in 1990, in a now legendary match between two wrestlers who would go on to define WCW.

Why Sting Did Not Make The Jump To WWE In 2001

With WWE buying both WCW and ECW in 2001, there was a great opportunity for an invasion angle. It would turn out to be one of the biggest disappointments in the history of the business though, as most of the biggest stars in WCW never made the jump to the WWE in 2001. Sting was one of them.

It looks like he had reservations about how the WCW talent were represented on WWE television. While speaking on the Into The Light documentary, Sting recalled the interaction between The Rock and Booker T, on the 6-time World Champion's debut in the company and how he felt that it buried him.

"They come back-to-back, and they turn around, and they look at each other and The Rock looks at Booker T, and he said, 'who are you?' And you know, that one little comment was all it took to just bury somebody, in my opinion, bury somebody like Booker T, and let's let the world know that you're a WCW guy, and you're a peon here. It was gonna require lots of work for Booker T to try and come back, and he did because he's a talented guy. And after all the years I'd put into wrestling at that point it just seemed like a gamble to me."

Sting's Run In TNA

Instead of going to WWE, Sting would once again end up on the opposition side, this time on the alternative, TNA, instead of the direct competition.

Initially making sporadic appearances in the company, he would become a full-time performer soon, and would remain there until 2014. Despite his age, he was one of the centerpieces of TNA television during that entire period of time, thanks to his name value and the fact that he was still popular with the fans.

Sting's run in TNA was decent, but it did not have nearly the same impact that he could have made in WWE.

Did Sting Make The Right Decision By Not Joining WWE?

In 2001, Sting was already 42 years old, but as we saw from his run in TNA, he could still go in the ring for many more years. If he did join the WWE, the storyline opportunities were abundant, and he could have had epic rivalries with the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker, Triple H, Mick Foley, John Cena, Batista, Randy Orton, and several others over the coming years.

As we have seen over the years through the likes of Booker T, Flair, AJ Styles, Goldberg, Rey Mysterio, Rob Van Dam, and a few others, you can become a big deal in the WWE, even if you are not a product of the company. As a result, if Sting went to the company in the early 2000s and stuck with it, he most probably would have ended up as a main event player there as well.